Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! September 25, 2018

By Eric Olanowski

Taking a look at the 2019 World Championship host city and the team results from the 2018 Junior World Championships. Also discussing two stars who were forced to pull out of the #Budapest2018 World Championships after suffering recent injuries.  

1. Astana to Host 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships
United World Wrestling has announced the city of Astana will host the 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships September 14-22 at the Daulet Arena.

The Kazakhstan capital city has hosted several United World Wrestling events in recent years, including the 2014 Senior Asian Wrestling Championships, 2016 Asian Olympic Qualifier, and the 2018 Grappling World Championships.

Competition to host the championships was intense, as the 2019 world championships will serve as the first qualification event for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The top six finishers in each Olympic weight category in Astana will secure an Olympic qualification for their nation, with the remaining qualification spots earned at continental competitions and a “Last Chance Qualifier” during the 2020 competition calendar.

Click HERE for full release.

Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (RUS) beat  Zachery Samuel ELAM (USA), 11-0 to win the 97kg gold medal at the Junior World Championships. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

2. Russia Wins Five Gold Medals and Junior World Team Title
Russia closed out the 2018 Junior World Championships winning the freestyle team title on the backs of five individual gold medals. Heading into the final day of wrestling, the Russian Federation led the second-place United States by 31 points and finished 67 points ahead of the returning champions. 

Russia grabbed a trio of gold medals on the sixth day of competition and seized championships from Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (RUS) and Soslan KHINCHAGOV (RUS) on the seventh and final day of wrestling at Trnava’s City Sports Hall.

Overall, Russia capped off the 2018 Junior World Championships with seven medalists. In addition to their five gold medals, they also won a silver and bronze medal. Though they had seven medalists a year ago, there five gold medals are an improvement from last year’s four gold medals. 

Team Scores 
GOLD – Russia (182 points)
SILVER – United States (115 points)
BRONZE –  Iran (98 points)
Fourth – Azerbaijan (91 points)
Fifth – India (84 points)

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Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI) flexes after scoring the 12technicalcal superiority victory over Nikoloz TCHIKAIDZE (GEO) in the Greco-Roman 72kg finals. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

3. Iran Wins Greco-Roman Team Title, Komarov Wins Fourth World Gold
Iran, with four gold medalists and 136 points wrapped up the Greco-Roman team title at the 2018 Trnava Junior World Championships, four points ahead of second-place Russia. 

Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI), with his left shoulder heavily taped, claimed back-to-back junior titles, making it his third overall age-level world championship. 

Meanwhile, Russia, led by Aleksandr KOMAROV who earned his fourth age-level world title finished in second place with 131 points. 

Komarov shutout out Andrew BERREYESA (USA) 10-0 in the 77kg finals to reach the top of the junior world podium for the second straight year. 

“These World Championships were the toughest yet. But it a great learning experience, and it feels good to win again,” said Komarov. “Now, my attention turns toward the senior-level and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.” 

Team Scores
GOLD - Iran - (136 points)
SILVER- Russia (131 points)
BRONZE - Armenia (83 points)
Fourth - Turkey (79 points) 
Fifth - India  (73 points)

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In the 50kg finals, Yui SUSAKI (JPN) beat Ellen RIESTERER (GER) to win her fifth world title in three different age groups. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

4. Japanese Women Win Six Golds, World Team Title 
For the eighth straight year, Japan left the Junior World Championships with the women’s wrestling team title. The most dominant women’s wrestling nation in the world finished 55 points ahead of second place Russia, and 88 points ahead of third place China. 

Japan closed out the fifth day of competition with four additional gold medals, bringing their tournament total to six overall individual champions. This is the fifth straight year that Japan has finished the Junior World Championships with at least four gold medalists. It’s also the most golds they’ve won since winning six golds at the 2016 Junior World Championships. 

They also won a silver and three bronze medals. In total, Japan medaled in all ten women’s wrestling weight classes. 

One of the biggest notes from women's wrestling was Japan's 19-year-old superstar Yui SUSAKI (JPN) winning her fifth straight world title across three age divisions, confirming her as one of the best wrestlers in the world, regardless of age, gender or style. 

Susaki’s next competition will be October’s senior-level World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Also of note, Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) won her fourth age-level world championship. Larroque didn't give up an offensive point the entire tournament, outscoring her Junior World Championship opponents 33-0, including an overwhelming 6-0 finals win over Russia's Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS). 

​​​​​​Team Scores 
GOLD - Japan (215 points)
SILVER – Russia (160 points)
BRONZE – China (127 points)
Fourth – Ukraine (73 points)
Fifth – Mongolia (67 points)

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Roman VLASOV (RUS) defeated Viktor NEMES (SRB), 5-1 to win the 2018 European gold medal. Photo by Max Rose-Fyne.

5. Vlasov and Phogat to Miss #Budapest2018 World Championships 
Vinesh PHOGAT (IND) and Roman VLASOV (RUS) recently suffered injuries and have been forced to pull out of the #Budapest2018 World Championships. 

According to Indian journalist Vinay Siwach, Phogat, the 24-year old rising Indian star tore ligaments in her elbow while practice Friday,  trying to finish a takedown against training partner Pooja DHANDA (IND). The Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medalist was expected to compete for a medal in women's wrestling at 50kg. 

Another blow to the #Budapest2018 entry list came when two-time Olympic champion Roman Vlasov announced that he recently underwent surgery for a right knee injury. Vlasov, the four-time world and Olympic champion and reigning European champion was registered at GR 77kg. 

Click HERE for full Scroll.in's full release on Phogat

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. "Difficulties will not break me." 

2. "The 2018 #beach#wrestling #world #championships will be held in #sarigerme #turkey #beachwrestling"

3. Respect.

4. Big Move Day 6 from the Junior World Championships - TRNAVA 2018

5. Photo from the Freestyle Finals. - #uww #wrestling

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! November 5, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing results from the U23 World Championships and previewing the upcoming Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman World Cups. 

1. Egypt's Rising Star El Sayed Defends U23 World Title 
Ten days. That’s how long it took for Mohamed EL SAYED (EGY) to bolster his resume by a pair of world titles. In just under two weeks, the 21-year-old Egyptian rising star steamrolled his way to the top of the podium at the U23 World Championships and World Military Games. 

El Sayed kick-started his impressive two-week run on October 23, taking out five wrestlers in Wuhan, China, to win the World Military Games title at 67kg. Then, El Sayed downed five foes in Hungary last weekend and defended his U23 world gold medal from a year ago. 

The Nur-Sultan world fifth-place finisher capped off his world-title run by obliterating Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (BLR), 8-0, in the 67kg finals. In addition to his finals win, the man who qualified Egypt for the Olympic Games at 67kg, scored perhaps his most significant win of the tournament when he bested Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) in the semifinals. The Egyptian wrestler came out on top of that matchup between returning U23 world champions, 7-5.

Egypt won't compete at the 2019 Greco-Roman World Cup, so the next time wrestling fans can catch El Sayed in action could be at  January's Matteo Pellicone, which is the first Ranking Series event of 2020. 

Taylor Miller's Greco-Roman Wraps:
Novikov Avenges European C’Ships Loss to Defend U23 World Title
Elsayed Collects Second World Title in Less than Two Weeks at #WrestleBudapest

Greco-Roman Finals Results
55kg - Shota OGAWA (JPN) df. Emin Narimanovitch SEFERSHAEV (RUS), 4-3
60kg - Armen MELIKYAN (ARM) df. Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ), 11-7 
63kg - Meysam Karamali DALKHANI (IRI) df. Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO), 7-6 
67kg - Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) df. Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (BLR), 9-0 
72kg - Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) df. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE), 7-0 
77kg - Islam OPIEV (RUS) df. Kodai SAKURABA (JPN), 3-1 
82kg - Milad Valerikovitch ALIRZAEV (RUS) df. Vjekoslav LUBURIC (CRO), 8-0 
87kg - Semen NOVIKOV (UKR) df. Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO), 6-1
97kg - Arvi Martin SAVOLAINEN (FIN) df. Giorgi MELIA (GEO), 5-3 
130kg - Aliakbar Hossein YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) df. Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO), via inj. def. 

Haruna OKUNO (JPN) was one of seven Japanese wrestlers to win a U23 women's wrestling title. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Japanese Women Seize Seven of Ten U23 World Golds 
The Japanese women’s wrestling team capped off an extraordinary run to a U23 team world title with a 37-3 record, which culminated in ten medals – seven of which were golds. They finished 125 points ahead of second-place China, who finished with 105 points. 

In total, Japan’s U23 women’s world team had seven champions, two runner-ups, and a bronze-medal finisher. 

Japan’s domination at the U23 World Championships solidifies the island nation’s spot atop the ranks in women’s wrestling after they swept the four major World Championships in 2019. The Far East country took home the team trophy at the cadet, junior, U23 and senior world championships – while grabbing at least six medals at every World Championships. Furthermore, they finished with six champions at the cadet, junior and U23 world championships. 

Taylor Miller's Women's Wrestling Wraps Wraps:
Marin Potrille Takes Down Senior World Medalist for U23 World Title
Furuichi Wins Seventh World Gold, Paliha Defends U23 World Title at #WrestleBudapest

2019 U23 World Champions: 
50kg - Kika KAGATA (JPN)
53kg - Haruna OKUNO (JPN)
55kg - Sae NANJO (JPN)
59kg - Yumeka TANABE (JPN)
62kg - Yuzuka INAGAKI (JPN)
65kg - Misuzu ENOMOTO (JPN)
68kg - Masako FURUICHI (JPN)

2019 World Championships Medal Breakdown: 
Cadet – Six gold and three bronze – nine medals 
Junior – Eight gold and two bronze – ten medals 
U23 – Seven gold, two silver and one bronze – ten medals 
Senior – One gold, three silver and two bronze – six medals

Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS) helped Russia claim their fourth freestyle world title across all divisions with an 8-1 victory over  Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI) in the 74kg finals. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

3. Russia Edges Iran at U23 Worlds, Sweeps Freestyle World Championships 
The Russia Federation hoisted a freestyle 2019 team trophy for the fourth time this year at the World Championships after edging second-place Iran by six points at the U23 World Championships. 

Russia’s run to a fourth consecutive freestyle team trophy came on the back of Razambek ZHAMALOV’S 74kg title-winning effort. Zhamalov, a 2018 junior world runner-up, became a world champion for the first time in his career with a smothering 8-1 victory over Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI) in the 74kg finals. Four other Russians joined Zhamalov in the finals, but that quartet settled for silver medals after falling in their respective gold-medal matches. The Russian Federation also had a pair of bronze medalists – bringing their overall medal count to seven. 

Russia finished six points ahead of second-place Iran and 34 points ahead of third-place Azerbaijan. 

Taylor Miller's Freestyle Wraps:
Zholdoshbekov Claims First Men’s Freestyle World Title for Kyrgyzstan Since 2005
Andreu Ortega and Goleij Claim Second U23 World Titles at #WrestleBudapest

Freestyle Finals Results
57kg - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) df. Adlan ASKAROV (KAZ), 10-0 
61kg - Ulukbek ZHOLDOSHBEKOV (KGZ) df. Ravinder RAVINDER (IND), 5-3 
65kg - Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) df. Takuma TANIYAMA (JPN), 3-2 
70kg - Mirza SKHULUKHIA (GEO) df. Chermen VALIEV (RUS), 7-5 
74kg - Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS) df. Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI), 8-2 
79kg - Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO) df. Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE), via fall 
86kg - Kamran Ghorban GHASEMPOUR (IRI) df. Gadzhimurad MAGOMEDSAIDOV (AZE), 9-3 
92kg - Bo Dean NICKAL (USA) df. Batyrbek TCAKULOV (RUS), 12-2 
97kg - Mojtaba Mohammadshafie GOLEIJ (IRI) df. Shamil Alievitch MUSAEV (RUS), 8-2 
125kg - Amir Hossein Abbas ZARE (IRI) df. Vitalii GOLOEV (RUS), 10-0 

Three-time world and Rio Olympic champ Risako KAWAI (JPN) will compete at 57kg at the Women's Wrestling World Cup. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan) 

4. Japan Gearing up to Host Women's World Cup (November 16-17)
For the sixth time in its 18-year run, the Women’s Wrestling World Cup returns to the winningest women’s wrestling country in the world, Japan. The four-time defending World Cup champions will host the annual dual meet event November 16-17 at the Nakadai Sports & Recreation Park Gymnasium in Narita, Japan. 

Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Adeline Maria GRAY (USA) headline a group of five reigning world champions and 19 total medalists that'll compete in Narita. 

Kawai and Gray, who combine for eight world titles and a Rio Olympic gold medal, are unquestionably the most dominant women's wrestlers in the world. Kawai, who'll scrap at 57kg, has won three consecutive world titles after claiming gold in Rio de Janerio at the 2016 Olympic Games. Gray, who is coming off winning her American history-making fifth women's wrestling world title, will wrestle at 76kg. 

Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA), Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) and Tamyra Mariama MENSAH (USA) are the trio of newly-minted world champs that'll join Kawai and Gray at the World Cup. 

The Women's Wrestling World Cup starts on November 16 and will be streamed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

Reigning World Champions Entered
55kg - Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA)
57kg - Risako KAWAI (JPN)
62kg - Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS)
68kg - Tamyra Mariama MENSAH (USA)
76kg - Adeline Maria GRAY (USA)

Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

5. Loaded Field Entered into Greco-Roman World Cup (November 28-29) 
The Azadi Stadium in Iran's capital city of Tehran will welcome a loaded field of top-level talent to the 2019 Greco-Roman World Cup from November 28-29. Six reigning world gold medalists will travel to Tehran to compete in the Greco-Roman World Cup, but 67kg will be the weight-to-watch, as a potential Olympic finals rematch between Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) and Shinobu OTA (JPN) could be looming on the horizion. 

Borrero and Ota both won world titles in Nur-Sultan, but the Japanese wrestler will begin his ascent from his title-winning non-Olympic weight of 63kg to the Olympic weight of 67kg, where the Cuban wrestler is the current world-title holder. Shortly after winning his world title last month, Ota announced that he'll climb up 4kg to 67kg to make a run at improving his silver medal from the Rio Olympic Games where he fell to Borrero in the finals.

In addition to Borrero and Ota, the Greco-Roman World Cup will also welcome four other world champs. The returning world champs are: Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO), Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN), Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) and Lasha GOBADZE (GEO). 

The Greco-Roman World Cup starts on November 28 and will be streamed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

Reigning World Champions Entered
55kg - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
60kg - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) 
67kg - Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)
67kg - Shinobu OTA (JPN)
72kg - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS)
82kg - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday -- Akmataliev E. @akmataliev_ernazar -- U23 Worlds 2019
2. SEFERSHAEV (RUS) gets the win in a crazy match against HALAKURKI (IND) ? .
3. Big throws by FENG (CHN) ?? ? ?‍♂️
4. GHASEMPOUR (IRI) defeats SADOWIK (POL) will he win the gold again? ? ?? ?
5. Back and forth match between IBRAGIMOV (AZE) and PANTALEO (USA) with IBRAGIMOV grabbing the 9-8 win ?? ? ?